Teufel Nursery -- Environmental Solutions
since 1890

In 1947 Alfred and Ruth Teufel married, a couple of years after Alfred
had purchased a 106-acre dairy farm on Barnes Road. They began to build
a business selling nursery stock around the country. They started a family
in a house on the property that was older than the historic J.Q.A. Young
house that stands on Cornell. Linda Teufel recalls, “a big old house,
where I lived until second grade.”

Alfred’s grandfather, Gustav, had started the family business
with a holly farm on Miller Rd. which still sends wreaths and other Christmas
greens all over the country. For a few weeks during the Christmas season
they open up for retail sales.

Ruth took over the business after her husband’s death in 1966
and all the kids worked there with time out for college. Then in 1984
Tom became President, and Dick started Teufel Products, which manufactures
soil mixtures. Tom soon opened a branch in Seattle which is now growing
faster than the Oregon operation.

Now the company is run by Larry, Linda and Tina Teufel. Linda’s
son Cory works there nearly full time while attending Portland State,
so maybe they’re aiming at five generations! “We get along
just fine,” says Linda, who handles the logistics of sending plants
all over the country from their farm in Roy. They have their own fleet
of trucks for shipping in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, but use owner-operator
rigs for interstate business.

Providing plant stock is just one part of the Teufel enterprise. They
have a large and growing landscape business, which offers design, construction
and maintenance for large and small business and residential customers.
The Seattle branch does all the construction and maintenance work for
the large Microsoft campus in Redmond. “They’re very particular,” says
Linda, “and they watch every penny!”

Closer to home, Teufel is landscaping many of the highway margins in
our area, including work on the Camelot interchange at Sylvan (the latest
segment of the improvements to US 26). To reduce maintenance and chemical
use and improve plant survivability, they use native plants wherever it’s
feasible. They put in the bio-swale plantings in the OMSI parking lot,
and have provided design, construction and maintenance service for many
of the large industrial campuses in Washington County. The design team
works out of a newly remodeled office in the large building on Barnes,
and consists of two landscape architects and a designer.

Last year, they opened for retail sales at their Barnes Rd. location,
and they’re finding a receptive clientele for the high-quality plants
that have previously only been available to the wholesale trade. They
carry everything from groundcover to shade trees, and have a good selection
of native plants and a vast collection of ornamentals. In addition to
plants, they have a garden store which offers professional grade tools
and other gardening necessities.

Washington County’s long-range plans call for residential and
commercial development where the Teufel Nursery now stands. The
Beaverton School District recently “condemned” a parcel for
future school development. But Linda states firmly that, “We will
continue to stay open as a nursery.” Get in there and buy some
plants -- it’s
spring! http://www.teufel.com